Life lessons: Oriane.
Journalist Bibi Timmerman started writing down life lessons of the people she met while taking her campervan on the road in Europe for 2 months. Realising that actual wisdom can be found in the everyday person you meet on the street, she asked people: what is your biggest life lesson? This time: Oriane!
On the second morning at the breakfast buffet at a yoga and meditation retreat I joined I met Oriane (30); the typical traveller's girl. This French girl had a trained body - from which you could see that she exercised outside a lot - an enviably tanned skin, tattoos of coconuts and palm trees covering her arms and legs. Of course she arrived in her own van. After saying this first ‘hello’ to each other, we both felt that we would be friends. When a couple of weeks after the retreat she invited me to come to her parents' mountain house in the French Alps to go hiking, I couldn’t say no, because if Oriane wants something to happen, then it will happen. We hiked for 4 long, but amazing days and slept in -3 degrees in a hut on top of the mountain, overlooking the Mont Blanc. While we were staring into our home made fire I had to ask her my only question: “Oriane, what is your biggest life lesson?”
‘’You ask this to me? I did not have a long life or experience, I just turned 30,’’ Oriane replies. ‘’But my biggest life lesson would be: just do whatever you want, when you want to do it, with whom you want to do it, always. And that’s exactly what I do. Because I think the biggest thing in my life is ‘time’. Once I realised - when I was still young, like 18 - that time is ticking away mercilessly. You can just die tomorrow and if I die tomorrow, I want to be happy with what I've done and the choices I made.’’
“Every time I took a big decision in my life, I was afraid and I never, never, never regret the decision.”
‘’This realisation about the concept of ‘time’ happened when I was studying. I had to do an internship at an office, it was a typical 9 to 5 job. 6 months passed and at the end of the 6 months I was like ‘wow’, that period really flew by: time passes awfully quick if you don’t pay attention to it. After the internship they offered me a job. I asked myself: “do you want to stay in this office and only enjoy the weekend, or do you want to do something else?” I choose to do something else. I was 23, and I always wanted to work a seasonal job in a ski resort. So I did it. Easy as that. I wanted to try it just once, for 5 months. Now it’s been 7 years and I don’t want to change it for anything else.’’
‘’That’s why I think that If you want to quit your job because you think you will be happier somewhere: do it. If you think you need 2 months of holidays: do it. If you think you need a retreat one week in Italy: do it. Because you will never regret it, I promise you. People alway say things like; but I need to pay for my car, I need to pay my rent, just like everybody else. But do something about it if you don’t like it. Because no one will change it for you. Actually every time I made a big decision in my life, I was afraid and I never, never, never regret the decision. Of course changing something is scary, because you will never know in advance what you will get. Making scary decisions makes you grow, because after that you trust yourself that you're happy with the decision you've made.
“Making scary decisions makes you grow, because after that you trust yourself that you’re happy with the decision you’ve made.”
I was born in a little mountain village. My parents, but also all of my friends, just stayed in the village while I was thirsty for adventures. And I still am. I don’t know where it’s coming from because with my parents we didn't go on holidays much or travelled a lot. There was no adventure at all. Staying in one place always with the same people. I wanted to discover more. And then when you start you just can't stop. After the first travels you want to do more, see more countries, explore more cultures and eat more different foods. Since I travelled and did a study exchange abroad, I learned to survive in a country I didn't know, just on my own with no friends, no family. So now I know I'm able to do it. I can go everywhere in the world on my own.’’
